James Gunn Talks More GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Thanos, Filming And Post-Production

Revealing that he initially went to Marvel Studios in hope of doing a Hit Monkey movie, James Gunn recently talked all things Guardians of the Galaxy with Kevin Pereira following last week's teaser trailer debut. While a portion of the Pointless Podcast interview was also revealed last week, the full audio has the director discuss more Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel's "I am Groot" delivery, a "beautiful" overhead scene with Peter Quill, the motive of the mad titan Thanos and much more.

"Rocket is a result of countless and cruel, illegal genetic experiments, where he's been turned--from an innocent little creature, where he has an IQ of three, and he becomes this thing that's completely alone; this gnarled little beast," said Gunn of the gun-toting raccoon, voiced by actor Bradley Cooper. He's pretty sad." Speaking on Groot, "All of the 'I am Groots' that were earlier voices didn't sound very good at all, they sounded like sh#t. It just didn't work. Then Vin Diesel came in and, in one day, lied down all these 'I am Groot' tracks, and he's a perfectionist. He made me explain to him exactly what (Groot) was saying (before each delivery)" Gunn also said that both Diesel and Bradley Cooper were videotaped for reference while doing voice work.

Though filming is his least favorite part of making a movie, James Gunn said that his experience on Guardians of the Galaxy was much better than with his first two movies, Slither and Super."There's one shot that I'm thinking of; the characters are imprisoned early on in the movie and there's this overhead shot of Peter Quill and he's sleeping on the floor in what we call the Locked Up Abroad shot. It's Quill surrounded on the floor with all these different aliens, disgusting, they're all sleeping, packed together like sardines. It was just a really beautiful shot and we have it overhead completely with the camera slightly revolving as he's sitting there wide awake and all these gross aliens are asleep around him. I was able to take time and compose the shot in the same way you would design a painting, and changing little guys. It wasn't like it took an extraordinary time to do it, but we took some time at doing and that was something that I'd had really never been able to do in my entire career," enthused Gunn.

When pressed about the Infinity Gauntlet and Thanos, whose "employees" are main villains of Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn said: "Here's the thing, truthfully the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes out of both the 616 and Ultimate Marvel Comics universe, and then they recreate some elements themselves. What Thanos wants in the comics is not necessarily what Thanos wants in the movies; we don't know yet." Also during the hour-long interview, Gunn also said there are no Skrulls, but there's some additional filming in the cards.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand - with the galaxy’s fate in the balance. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is presented by Marvel Studios and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gilian, Djimon Hounsou with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Commander Rael and Benicio del Toro as The Collector. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the film opens August 1, 2014.